West Auckland real estate prices soar

Unlike many other parts of Auckland, the Waitakere area is not divided into groups of wider separate suburbs. Photo / Doug Sherring

QV data shows 7.3% increase in past three months — but figures cannot be broken down to single suburbs.

West Auckland home values are up a spectacular 21.6 per cent in the past year.

QV data out last week showed Waitakere's average value now stands at $687,021, up 7.3 per cent in the past three months and 62 per cent since 2007.

However, unlike many other parts of Auckland, the Waitakere area is not divided into groups of wider separate suburbs but, initially, into a total of 17 suburbs grouped under the one single geographic area, then a further number of smaller suburbs contained within that. That contrasts with all other parts of the city such as the old Auckland City Council areas, the North Shore and Manukau which are divided into broader areas, each with many suburbs in those smaller subsets.

The main Waitakere suburbs are Glen Eden, Glendene, Green Bay, Henderson, Hobsonville, Kelston, Laingholm, Massey, New Lynn, Piha, Ranui, Sunnyvale, Swanson, Te Atatu Peninsula, Te Atatu south, Titirangi and West Harbour. However, the single Waitakere area also encompasses Bethells Beach, Herald Island, Lincoln, Oratia, Westgate, Whenuapai and the Waima/Woodlands Park areas.

Herald readers yesterday asked about prices in their area, demanding to know their suburbs' performance.

QV's commentary on Waitakere value rises said the area was one which had streaked ahead and it called the increase "whopping".

A QV spokeswoman acknowledged that the one Waitakere area encompassed a very large geographic spread but said that was how it was grouped.

Her inquiries about whether QV could present more detailed data on the western area, giving more specific breakdowns, were rejected.

Meanwhile, Auckland house price sales figures from the city's biggest agency declined owing to a higher volume of lower-priced properties being sold, said a QV boss.

New Zealand director of research for CoreLogic Jonno Ingerson said last week's Barfoot & Thompson July results had been affected by higher volumes of cheaper sales.

"The Barfoot & Thompson release that values are down took us all a bit by surprise. We can see no evidence of that at all," Ingerson said.

Barfoot numbers showed median Auckland residential sales prices dropping $29,000, from $786,000 in June to $757,000 by July.

But QV announced last week that North Shore average home values had set a new record by topping more than $1 million. House values were rising by $533 a day in Auckland, the QV data showed.

Many readers asked how the QV and Barfoot data could show opposite trends and wanted to know which was correct.

"Barfoots will be seeing some sales before we do, but the other big factor in the market at the moment is how much faster the bottom end of the value range is moving compared to the top and that has picked up, particularly in the past few weeks," Ingerson said.

"So I am picking that a drop in median sales price reflects more activity at the bottom end, pulling the median down - not a drop in values overall."

Barfoot managing director Peter Thompson said the price drop had been gradual and the first signs that price increases were slowing could be seen in last month's figures.

Waitakere
•$687,021 average value.
•7.3% rise in the past three months.
•62% rise since 2007.